Evolution
by musicluver008
Summary: He visited her on important days. On her birthday, it was a flower. On Christmas, it was a letter. On the anniversary of her mother's death, it was a statement. His presence alone was more than enough for her. And every time they were together, their relationship grew. HitsuKarin, slight OOC and mention of IchiRuki


He visited her for the milestones.

Kurosaki Karin would not hesitate to call Hitsugaya Toshiro her best friend. Even though she didn't get to see him nearly as much as her other nakama, he was the one that she was most excited to see when he was there. He came to all of her soccer games, which happened every Tuesday. How he found time to do so with all his captain responsibilities was beyond her.

_Karin took a huge gulp of water as her team dispersed to go home. Ichigo and Rukia were still in the stands, waiting for Karin as they always did. They'd become official after about three months of trying to hide their relationship. What they hadn't known, when they had finally announced it, was that no one was surprised. Even Byakuya had known._

_Taking her eyes off the happy couple, Karin scanned the departing crowd for a shock of white hair. She wiped the sweat off her face and pushed the black bangs that had escaped her ponytail behind her ear. Karin definitely liked the winter playing season better than the summer playing season._

"_You used that maneuver I showed you," came a cool voice from behind her._

_She turned to him with a shrug. "It worked."_

"_Yo, Toshiro!" shouted Ichigo as he and Rukia approached. "We're about to go out for lunch. You want to come?"_

"_It's Hitsugaya-taicho," Toshiro said before nodding at Rukia as she bowed. "And, no."_

"_Oh, come on, Toshiro," Karin said. "The paperwork will still be there when you get back."_

_The Shinigami captain rolled his eyes and followed as she went to grab her stuff._

Toshiro came to visit on holidays. They never got each other gifts on Christmas, but instead exchanged letters. They never said anything much—just what had gone on lately and small things like that. This tradition had started when he sent her one a few years back, apologizing for not being able to make it due to an urgent mission. Karin had replied with her own correspondence, simply stating that he had "better not get killed" and should show up in person next year to give her a letter face-to-face. And he'd done just that.

_She was sixteen, now, and very happy to be so. Her birthday was December 1__st__, just far enough away from Christmas so that people didn't lump her birthday in with the holiday and completely forget about it. She still didn't feel sixteen. The prospect that she would be finishing high school in only a few years was slightly daunting._

_It was December 25__th__, 11:47pm. Karin managed to sneak away from her family downstairs, as she did every year. Toshiro usually didn't show up until the very end of the day, which suited them both. He got to finish all his paperwork and she got to spend the day with her family._

_She entered the room that she still shared with Yuzu. Toshiro was in a gigai, wearing jeans and a black jacket over a red shirt. He was studying the room with his arms folded, the window still open as if he'd just gotten there. Karin shivered and crossed the room to close it._

"_Are you trying to freeze my house?"_

_Toshiro didn't say anything. He had grown, Karin noticed as she sat on the bed and motioned for him to do the same. He'd always been taller than her, but never by much. Now he was about five inches above her. His face was more angular and his snowy hair was still as untamed as ever._

_He pulled a folded envelope out of his pocket and handed it to her. Karin took it but didn't open it, sending him a questioning look. "What's this?"_

_Toshiro raised an eyebrow with the barest hint of a smirk. "You told me last year to give you one in person. So, there you go."_

_Karin nodded slowly before reaching over and plucking her own envelope off of her desk. She handed it to him and he folded it once, sticking it in his jacket pocket._

_Karin stood. "Come on. I think we still have some pie."_

On Karin's birthday, however, he always got her something. He never actually showed up, himself, but there was always a single hibiscus, her favorite flower, in his stead. It was always on her pillow along with a small white card that simply read,

"_Happy birthday, T. Who's 'T', Karin?" asked Yuzu as she inspected the card._

_Karin put the flower on her desk, idly wondering if he'd actually gone to Hawaii to get it. "Just a friend from school. He does that for every birthday."_

_Yuzu was practically jumping up and down. "This is so romantic! He's been doing this for years? Why have you never told me? Is he cute?"_

_Karin sighed and rubbed her temples as her twin squealed. She had always been careful to hide the flower from her lively twin, but Yuzu had actually been the one to find it this year._

"_Karin!" called her father from downstairs in an oddly normal voice. "You've got a visitor!"_

_With a groan, the now-eighteen Karin followed Yuzu as she ran down the stairs. When her twin stopped abruptly at the landing, Karin frowned and looked over Yuzu's shoulder._

_Sitting on the sofa, conversing easily with her father, was Hitsugaya Toshiro. Karin's eyes widened as she moved around Yuzu to make her presence known. "Toshiro? What are you doing here?"_

"_Toshiro, here, came to give you your birthday present!" exclaimed her father jubilantly. "Why didn't you tell me you knew my old third seat?!"_

_Yuzu, who had been filled in on all the Shinigami stuff on she and Karin's seventeenth birthday, perked up. "He was in your squad?"_

_Isshin laughed. "Now he leads the squad!" He clapped Toshiro on the shoulder. "Yuzu and I will leave you two alone to talk."_

_Karin watched Yuzu, practically able to see the wheels turning in her sister's head. Yuzu looked between Karin and Toshiro before mouthing the young captain's name. She looked at Karin with a surprised grin, having figured out the identity of the mysterious "T."_

_As she passed Karin to enter the kitchen, she whispered, "He _is _cute!"_

_Karin rolled her eyes before turning to Toshiro. "What's up? I thought you already gave me your present."_

_Toshiro smirked. There was a look in his eyes that Karin couldn't quite place and it made her slightly nervous._

"_That was only one half of it," he said, approaching her. "The other half had to be given in person."_

_Karin was about to reply when he closed the distance between them and pressed his lips to hers. She'd only had one boyfriend before, and they hadn't gotten this far, but he didn't seem very experienced, either, so she let her instincts guide her. He tasted like icy mint, but his mouth was warm. His hands went to her waist and she let hers circle his neck, stepping up on her tiptoes to get closer._

_He pulled back, breathing heavily. His cheeks were pink and his blue-green eyes were bright. "Happy birthday."_

He was there on the anniversary of her mother's death. Instead of showing up late like on most holidays, he was always at the cemetery before her. It was like he somehow knew that she wouldn't want to walk through those graves alone, so he was at the gates without fail, waiting patiently for her. The tradition of all the Kurosaki's going to Masaki's grave together had ended when the twins had followed their brother to college and classes had gotten in the way of all of them finding a time to go together. So now, they went in pairs—Ichigo and Rukia, Yuzu and Isshin, Karin and Toshiro.

"_Hey, mom," she said as she got to her knees in front of the grave. "I'm twenty now, going to a university in Tokyo. Not sure what I'm going to do yet, but…um…"_

_For the first time since her mother's death, Kurosaki Karin cried. No sound escaped her, but the tears rolled down her cheeks all the same. She hated herself for breaking down after managing to be strong for so long. But she just couldn't shake the thought that her mom hadn't been there to see her soccer team win nationals. Her mother hadn't seen her get her driver's license, her high school diploma, her first date. She hadn't been there to help Karin get a dress for the prom that Yuzu had made her go to. Her mother would never see her graduate college or get married or have kids. She was gone._

_An arm wrapped itself around her shoulder and she was pressed into the side of a very warm body. Karin shuddered against Toshiro, berating herself for having such an episode. Now his shirt was going to get wet._

_She was surprised when Toshiro began to speak. "Kurosaki-sama. My name is Hitsugaya Toshiro and I am a friend of Karin's._

"_Your daughter is one of the bravest, smartest, most amazing people I've ever met." Karin froze, eyes opening to stare at the fabric of his shirt. "She was the star of her soccer team and she graduated with one of the highest GPA's in her class. She has done much to protect this town from Hollows, fighting them without any weapons other than herself and whatever random household object she could get her hands on. She has beat me in many arguments and never accepts defeat graciously, so she's never really _lost _an argument, either. She's funny and intelligent and beautiful."_

_He shifted, and Karin looked up to see him watching her with careful eyes. "And I love her."_

_Cheeks dry and eyes wide, Karin grinned and kissed him with everything she had._

He was with her on the day that she died. It had been little over a year since he'd first said he loved her. They weren't technically together, because that was illegal according the laws of Soul Society. But they took what moments they could get. Only Rukia knew of their relationship, due to her keen eye. Karin was grateful for someone to talk to about it.

Karin was on her way home from the law firm she interned at. Due to her stubbornness and good debating skills, she'd picked law school after her basics were finished. Despite all the hate that lawyers got, Karin found that she enjoyed the occupation.

As she passed an alleyway, the sounds of a struggle reached her. Karin glanced into the darkness as whimpering became more apparent. Cursing herself for leaving her pepper spray in her other bag, she walked into the alley, willing her eyes to adjust.

What she found was a dirty-looking man holding a gun to the temple of a small boy who looked about seven. A woman had her back pressed against the wall of the alley, watching the man and what must have been her child with wide and fearful eyes. Karin hid behind a crate, waiting for an opportunity.

"Empty it!" yelled the man as the gun shook in his hands.

The woman was rifling through her wallet. She pulled out some bills and held them out to the man. "This is all I have!"

"That's barely anything! Take off your jewelry!"

She did as he asked, throwing her necklace and wedding ring to the ground. "Please, just let him go—we won't tell anybody!"

"Sorry, bitch," growled the man as he pushed the kid back at the woman. She immediately pushed him behind her. "Can't take no chances."

He aimed the gun at her. Karin leaped into action without even having to think about it. All she knew what that she couldn't let this little boy go through what Ichigo had gone through. No one should have to watch their mother die right in front of them.

Karin made it between the gunman and his targets just as the gun went off. There was an unbelievable pain in her chest and a terrified scream. She hit the ground hard and felt a wetness dampen her shirt and the ground beneath her. Black framed her vision.

The woman appeared over her. "Just h-hold on, okay? I'm calling for help."

A bright light came from the left and a disheveled Toshiro entered her failing field of vision. His eyes were wide with horror, his hair messier than usual. "Karin."

"To…shiro," she managed with a small smirk. "How'd you get here?"

"Urahara contacted me as soon as he felt your reiatsu drop. What happened?"

The woman was still preoccupied with emergency services, so she didn't notice Karin talking to thin air. The kid, however, asked, "Who're you talking to?"

Karin didn't answer Toshiro's question or the kid's. She didn't even know if her voice still worked. The pain was lessening, a floating numbness taking its place.

"I..I couldn't…"Toshiro had been listening to the woman as she told the operator what had happened, but his attention snapped back to Karin when she spoke. "I couldn't let…him bec-come…like Ichi-nii."

Understanding filled Toshiro's gaze, along with deep sadness. "You're too young."

She chuckled, but cut off with a wince. "Playing lawyer was f-fun, but being a…Shinigami sounds…better."

"I'll be here," he said. "I'll take you through the gate with me so you don't lose your memories."

Karin nodded, and the blackness took over. It didn't last long—no more than a few seconds—before she was opening her eyes again and sitting up with Toshiro's help. She pushed his hand off with a smirk, jumping up to her feet. "I'm fine, Toshiro."

Before she had the last syllable of his name out, he had her in his arms. "Never, _ever_, make me go through that again."

She clutched him to her, breathing him in. The broken chain attached to her chest was pressed between them. They broke apart as sirens sounded in the distance. The woman Karin had saved was hugging her son and crying. She seemed to know that Karin was already dead. She held her son tighter and looked at the young girl's body and whispered, "Thank you."

Karin smiled, feeling no regret about her actions.

The paramedics arrived and swarmed around her body while the police took the mother and her son away. Toshiro grabbed Karin's hand. "Come one."

As they walked, Toshiro talked about arrangements. "You can stay in the guest room of my private captain's barracks until the next academy semester. If we train before then, you should graduate in at least half the normal time. You're already quite powerful, as it is."

She nodded, excited about becoming a Shinigami. But as a sudden thought came to her, she groaned. "How are we going to tell my family?"

Toshiro was silent.

"Ichi-nii's probably going to blame you and Rukia's going to kick him and the other two are going to be sobbing and blubbering all over me," Karin growled. "Maybe we should just go to Soul Society and let them find out on their own."

"As tempting as that sounds, your brother would just storm through Soul Society, destroying Rukongai as he went, and fight through all of Seireitei to find you."

Karin sighed. "Yeah, I guess you're right."

Toshiro stopped and faced her with a smirk. "Look at it this way," he said. "At least, when we get there, I can make an honest woman out of you."

Karin's eyes widened. "Toshiro—what are you—"

He pulled out a small black box and opened it to reveal and icy blue diamond with two smaller, white diamonds on either side, all set in gold. "I got this with the intention of giving it to you when you died, but I didn't think it would be this soon." He took a deep breath. "But I'd be lying if I said I'm not happy that we can be together now. So, Karin, marry me?"

She looked to be contemplating. Of course, she already knew her answer, but why not let him sweat a little?

Toshiro frowned. "Well?"

Karin shrugged. "Sure."

He opened his mouth with a look that told her he was about to question her nonchalance, but he just sighed and shook his head. "I'll never understand you."

She laughed as he slipped the ring on her left hand. "At least you have forever to keep trying to."


End file.
